Read Online Thrill Seekers by Edwina Shaw - Free Book Online Page A

I scoop up some water and splash my face, checking my nose and sore ear.
    ‘Reckon I’m going to have a black eye in the morning,’ I say. Everyone has some wound to show off. We compete to see whose is worst. Steve might have broken a rib but he says it’s nothing. Brian’s got a fat lip andRuss’s chipped half a tooth off so he looks real freaky when he smiles.
    ‘What was that skinhead’s problem anyway?’ Brian asks.
    ‘Shit, that doesn’t matter, does it Douggie?’ says Jacko. ‘We had a great night, didn’t we?’

    It’s a long way home and all the booze is gone. In the cold, my muscles start to ache and my nose is throbbing. I hope it’s not going to mend crooked. No fight’s worth losing my looks for. My face is my passport. My fame depends on it.
    Empty goon bladders and crumpled cigarette packets slosh around my feet as the dinghy speeds down the middle of the river towards home. The water looks like milk, with the full moon shining on it, almost beautiful when you can’t see the dirt. Brian blows up one of the silver bladders and drops it overboard and we watch asit floats away, glowing like an astronaut’s balloon in space. That’d be the way to go, just float away and never come back. Away from all the shit. Maybe I’d see Dad there at the end of the Universe. Maybe.
    But if I start thinking like that I’m going nowhere. It’s been a great night, feels like one of the old boat adventures before everyone started going weird on me. So I reckon I’ll cheer us all up with one of my songs. I’ve got some lyrics that kill. The angels sing them in my ear sometimes when I’m stoned like I am now. Like…
    Flying / Flying away with you /You and me Babe / Yeah.
    Pretty good, hey?
    I try it out, singing into the wind and it sounds unreal.
    Behind me I hear them all laughing. Laughing and whispering, ‘Crazy Douggie’. But tonight it’s different, they’re laughing with me. Or it feels like they are anyway.
    This is the song that’s going to make my first million. Number one with a rocket. Fellas shouting my name and all the girls screaming and fainting as I stride out on stage into the flashing lights, my leather pants tight and sexy, my silver jacket reflecting colours. One girl jumps up on stage, even before I sing the first line and bouncers drag her kicking and fighting to the side. Her skirt gets hitched right up and I see her undies, ‘Douggie 4 eva’ written in felt pen on her crotch. I blow her a kiss and start to sing, the microphone rough against my lips.
    I belt it out and stare into the camera, doing ‘fuck me’ eyes like I practise in front of the mirror. I fall onto my knees and sing, ‘Baby, baby. I want you so bad,’ reaching out my hand to touch the fingertips of screaming fans. A couple of them faint and have to be carried away on stretchers. I start to get up, putting one foot on the front of the boat. The wind feels great as it rushes past.
    ‘Hey Douggie! Watch it!’
    The boat tips to one side as I balance on the prow.
    ‘Flying away with me,’ I sing, then yell out to the fellas behind me, ‘Check this out!’ And I put the other foot on the metal and lean forward with my hands on the point of the boat till I can stand upright. I put my arms out to the sides to balance and sing, ‘Flying! Flying!’ The climax of the song. The crowd roars!
    ‘For fuck’s sake Douggie, sit down!’ Jacko shouts.
    He’s not that into my music.
    ‘Okay, okay,’ I mutter, but I could’ve stayed like that the whole way home, face into the wind, cool and sexy.
    I reach down a hand onto the boat’s nose but I slip and land with a thud on my arse. Water starts flooding over the front and side. Cold.
    The fellas start hollering. ‘Move back! Lean left! Lean left!’ But it’s too late. The river’s taking over the boat; we’re sinking faster than the Titanic. We’re all in the drink, floundering like catfish on the end of a line.
    I start swimming like crazy. Luckily